Chickens

His grandpa had a farm near Fort Dodge and that’s how he learned how to grow a garden and tend animals. Now Leonard Weimer of Storm Lake is partaking in the spring rituals himself, tilling up ground east of the Buddhist Temple right off Radio Road and selling eggs from chickens he raises on a friend’s acreage near Nemaha.

States pass laws. That’s what legislatures do. Some states pass laws allowing gay marriage. Some pass laws banning late-term abortions. Some states act to tamp down the black vote. Some states don’t tax military pensions. But when a state tries to regulate agriculture in any way the lawsuit flies into US District Court. Iowa joins states like Missouri, Arkansas and Alabama suing the State of California, which states that cages for chickens must be large enough to flap their wings.

Margo Sievers, Ag in the Classroom coordinator for Buena Vista County Farm Bureau, was a guest in Penny Payne’s Alta-Aurelia kindergarten classroom. Sievers is pictured in the back row along with the eager students who learned more chicken facts in their second lesson about chickens.